All the Devils' hottest news, from notes to numbers to neutral-zone traps

Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Devils lead the New York Islanders 1-0 in the third period of tonight's game at Nassau Coliseum.

SECOND PERIODMichael Ryder came close to upping the Devils' lead to 2-0 with a right circle shot that clanked off the left post 1:53 into the second. Adam Henrique set Ryder up for the shot after Ryane Clowe forced an Islanders' turnover.

Another strong shift by that line led to a Cal Clutterbuck hook of Ryder at 5:46 that gave the Devils their first power play of the night. But they managed only one shot on goal during it -- a Jon Merrill right point one-timer at 7:14.

Then, Merrill was called for holding Andrew MacDonald at 8:02, giving the Islanders their first power play. The Devils killed that off with Cory Schneider making two saves.

Schneider made a good save on Brian Strait's shot from the left circle with 2:42 left in the period to keep it 1-0. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky was called for holding Ryan Strome with 1:48 left in the period to put the Isles on the power play for the second time.

The Isles didn't manage a shot on goal during the man advantage before the period expired. They'll have 12 seconds left on the power play to start the third.

FIRST PERIODReid Boucher, trying to work his was back into a better role, had a strong first shift on the fourth line, firing a right circle shot that Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov made a pad save on.

In just his second game back from a concussion, left wing Ryane Clowe dropped the gloves in a fight with Islanders defenseman Matt Carkner at 5:44. The fight stemmed from a big hit by Clowe on Isles defenseman Brian Strait. Before he came back, Clowe had said he wouldn't hesitate to fight if necessary and did pretty well in his bout with Carkner.

While Clowe was serving his fighting major, Boucher took his spot on the line with Adam Henrique and Michael Ryder and helped set up Henrique for the game's first goal. After taking a pass from Boucher, Ryder carried the puck over the Islanders' blue line on the right wing and chipped it ahead to Boucher, who slid a backhand feed from the bottom of the right circle to Henrique in front. Henrique quickly pulled the puck from his forehand to his backhand and lifted it over Nabokov's glove for his second goal in as many games following a 12-game drought.

Boucher said this morning he was determined to "redeem" himself for a poor game in Friday's 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus and is playing that way.

Defenseman Marek Zidlicky was temporarily shaken up after a puck deflected up off the stick and appeared to hit him in the face with 4:30 left in the period, but did not miss a shift after that.

Rookie defenseman Eric Gelinas' left arm appeared to be hurting after he fell into the right corner boards after being taken down by Ryan Strome with 1:54 left in the first period. Gelinas sat on the bench for the remainder of the period. Andy Greene filled in for him with defense partner Jon Merrill for the final shift of the period.

Gelinas was back with the rest of the team for the start of the second period, though.

The Islanders outshot the Devils 9-8 in the first period.

This is the second meeting of the season for the Metropolitan Division rivals and the first since Oct. 4, when the Isles defeated the Devils, 4-3, in a shootout. That game was the Devils' home opener and the Islanders' season opener.

The Devils are coming off a 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus Friday night. With the help of the NHL’s three-day Christmas break, the Islanders have been off since a 3-0 win over Detroit Monday night.

The Islanders are missing captain and leading scorer John Tavares, who is out with a lower-body injury. Tavares is tied for 10th in the league with 39 points in 38 games.

The Devils got back their captain, defenseman Bryce Salvador, after he missed 30 games with a stress fracture in his left foot.

Salvador is back, but defenseman Anton Volchenkov is out with what the team is calling "total body soreness". Volchenkov was slow to get up after being hit by Boone Jenner on his first shift Friday night, but played the remainder of the game.

Rookie Eric Gelinas said this morning he "might" play forward tonight, which seemed to indicate the Devils would dress seven defensemen, but that's turned out not to be the case.

Salvador is back with old defense partner Marek Zidlicky and Gelinas is paired with fellow rookie Jon Merrill.

Devils coach Pete DeBoer has shaken up his bottom three lines. He has Patrik Elias back at left wing on a line with Stephen Gionta at center and Steve Bernnier at right wing. Adam Henrique is centering Ryane Clowe and Michael Ryder on the third line and Andrei Loktionov is centering Reid Boucher and Janssen on the fourth line.

Cory Schneider started in net for the Devils against Evgeni Nabokov for the Islanders. Schneider is looking to snap a personal five-game winless streak (0-3-2).

Right wing Cam Janssen is back in the Devils' lineup after sitting out Friday's game as a healthy scratch. Center Jacob Josefson and left wing Mattias Tedenby are healthy scratches tonight.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.